Elkins Park doctor, 79, sentenced in running S. Philly 'pill mill'

By Sam Wood, PHILLY.COM

A South Philadelphia doctor, convicted on 18 of 19 counts relating to running a "pill mill" at his office at 7th and Morris Streets, was sentenced today to seven years in federal prison.

Richard Minicozzi, 79, who lives in Elkins Park, sold prescriptions for oxycodone and distributed Vicodin and Xanax for cash to "patients" who had no legitimate need for the drugs, prosecutors said.

Minicozzi's attorney, Jeff Miller, told the Inquirer that his client suffers from dementia and that wholesalers who sold him the drugs are guilty of profiting from the unusually high volumes Minicozzi ordered.